Slender insect with delicate membranous wings having an aquatic larval stage and terrestrial adult stage usually lasting less than two days. Synonyms:dayfly, shadfly.
... kill yourself, as cook did; but that was influenza. Long life is complicated, and even terrible; but it is glorious all the same. I would no more change places with an ordinary woman than with a mayfly... — Back to Methuselah • George Bernard Shaw